Spaghetti Night

 

I was thinking of recipes this morning and blogging when I suddenly was remembering our Friday nights at hubby's mother's.  First off I must say that Georgette would have never been know for her cooking.  In fact all of her sons would be complimenting their wives when they said - you don't cook like my mother.  

There was one recipe she made that I am sure she was told to be careful not to burn the marrow but she heard that she must burn it and when she did the stench was awful.  She, also didn't believe in lower fat meats and all her ground beef was medium or more (if she could get more) she believed that the higher the fat, the better the dish.  She baked with lard and could not believe that anyone could cook without it.  I remember her calling up to me (when we lived in the apartment upstairs) if I had any lard as she was out.  She was stunned to hear that I never used the stuff.  

Now Friday night became Spaghetti Night for the family.  Her home was in the center of the city and everyone could easily meet there and all the brothers came with their wives and their children.  Only one cousin couldn't make it very often and that was because he was working in a restaurant those nights and he was also much older than the others.  All our children were around the same age at the time and since there was a park to play in at the end of the block, they were out there playing, chatting and whatever they could get up to without adults around.  Friends of the children were welcome, so were friends of the family too.  My parents were able to attend a Spaghetti night dinner and those two 'only-children' were a bit out of their depth.  My sister and her family were in attendance when they came to Ottawa to visit too.  Everyone and anyone was welcome to be there to enjoy a spaghetti dinner.

Georgette and a cousin of the boys

Now you wonder when I said about her poor cooking skills how she managed to put on such a dinner and yes, she did make the sauce herself.

She, also, never browned the ground beef before putting in the pot with the rest of the ingredients.  The uncooked ground beef went in with everything else early in the morning and then she would put it on simmer for the whole day.  The good part was that the meat was indeed cooked through before serving but the downside was all the fat was in the pot too.  She would call it the extra gravy in the sauce.  One thing the family knew was that everyone would be pretty regular after that meal.

The table was full of family and fun.  Conversations both in English and in French would fly around the table and people would be coming and going from the home.  Whether the cooking was all that great or not, whether the spaghetti stuck in the pot, none of that mattered.  All that mattered was the family was together enjoying family stories and the goings on of the week past.